In the setting up of merchandise displays, using so-called peg board hooks mounted on perforated panel board, the ability to easily install and remove the merchandise display hooks, and the ability to maximize the utilization of the panel board space with merchandise displays are important considerations to the efficient merchandiser. The most primitive and inexpensive form of merchandise display hook consists of an elongated wire support, welded or otherwise secured to a base, having a pair of L-shaped mounted lugs. By tilting the hook upwardly, the lugs may be inserted into and/or removed from apertures in the panel board. However, the need for the hook to be tilted upwardly during installation and removal significantly reduces the efficiency of the display because of the need for providing clearance space above each hook.
The Thalenfeld U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,993 represented an important advance in the design of merchandise hooks in that a base member, provided with spaced, L-shaped mounting lugs, was mounted for pivoting movement with respect to an outwardly extending merchandise supporting wire. For installation and/or removal of that hook, was not necessary to tilt upwardly the entire hook, but only to pivot the base member. By enabling hooks to be inserted and removed without significant vertical clearance, not only was it possible to achieve greater utilization of the panel board space for merchandise displays, but perhaps equally important, the task initially setting up a display was greatly expedited. With respect to the latter aspect, during the initial set up of a display, it is frequently necessary to relocate hooks after a preliminary installation, in order to improve the appearance and/or space utilization of the panel. With the hook of the Thalenfeld U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,993, such operations were greatly enhanced, enabling significant labor savings to be realized.
Although the hook of the Thalenfeld U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,993 is a functionally superior hook, which has enjoyed enormous commercial success, it is necessarily somewhat higher in manufacturing cost than hooks of more simplified, functionally inferior design, so that a demand has continued for merchandise hooks of lower cost construction.
One type of hook that has achieved a certain market share in competition with the functionally superior hook of the aforementioned Thalenfeld patent is the two-part, plastic base hook as represented in a general way in, for example, the Lucietto et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,954 and/or the Silver U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,926. These patents are generally representative of hooks which comprise a formed wired merchandise support and a separate, molded plastic base provided with L-shaped mounting lugs. Both the wire merchandise support and the plastic base may be mass-produced on a low-cost basis, aided in no small measure by the fact that the original manufacturer need not assemble the parts prior to the delivery to the customer. Installation of the hook by the customer includes on-site assembly of the wire and base components. Where high density space utilization is required, the base element alone can be first installed on the panel board and the wire support may then be assesmbled to the base. In order to remove the hook, the wire element is first disassembled from the base, and then the base is removed from the panel. If display density is not a factor (i.e. there is ample clearance space above the hook) the hook may simply be tipped up and removed in its assembled position, much the same the more primitive form of hook described above.
Although the two-part, plastic base hooks described in the proceding paragraph have achieved a reasonable market share, because of favorable manufacturing costs comparisons in relation to the hook of the Thalenfeld patent mentioned above, the two-part hooks remain functionally very inferior to the hook with the pivoting base. Not only is installation and removal substantially more complicated, but the merchandiser is frequently dealing with multiple parts, which results in reduced efficiencies.
In accordance with the present invention, a new and improved merchandise hook is provided which has essentially all the superior functional characteristics of the hook of the Thalenfeld U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,993, yet is fully price competitive with the more conventional, two-part plastic based hooks. More specifically, the hook of the present invention comprises a wire merchandise supporting element which is cooperatively joined with a molded plastic base. Unlike the conventional two-part plastic base hooks, however, the hook of the invention, after initial assembly of the wire element to the plastic base, becomes a unitiary assembly with the base having a pivotal relationship to the hook to accommodate facile installation and/or removal of the hook without the cumbersome and time-consuming manipulations required of the more conventional two-piece plastic base constructions.
Importantly, even though the hook of the present invention eventually results in a "permanently" assembled hook and base, the initial assembly need not be made until installation at the customers display location. As a result, assembly of the base and hook is not an element of manufacturing costs.
One of the more specific, advantageous features of the new hook resides in the design of the base and hook members such that the initial, semi-permanent assembly of base to hook may be carried out with one hand, using the leverage obtained through upward tilting of the base member with respect to the wire merchandise support element which is held confined by the front surface of the panel board. The entire operation is swift and sure and enables the parts to be snapped together in a rugged and reliable pivotally associated relationship, with a minimum of strength and/or dexterity required on the part of the operator.
An additional feature of the invention resides in the design of an improved pivoting base merchandise hook in which the geometry of the hook and base is such as to render the hook substantially self-locking against accidental dislodgement. By advantageous positioning of the pivot axis of the base member in relation to the mounting lugs of the base, in conjunction with proper positioning of the hinge bar on the wire member, upward force tilting applied to the wire merchandise support is effectively prevented from causing a release motion of the pivoting base member.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment and to the accompanying drawings.